January 5, 2009

Duke’s Solar Program Regulated By N.C. Utilities Commission

The N.C. Utilities Commission has attached conditions to their approval of Duke Energy Carolinas’ proposed $50 million rooftop-solar energy initiative, Charlotte Business Journal reports.

The main restriction included in the commission’s approval is a limitation on the amount of money Duke can recover under the state’s renewable-energy law. The law sets minimum requirements for renewable-energy production in the state, but also caps the amount of money a utility is required to spend on renewable sources of energy.

The commission and others have questioned whether Duke’s program could exceed the cost limit before it reached its annual goals for generating renewable energy.

Duke acknowledges the proposed program will be more expensive than other solar alternatives but says there are sound public-policy reasons for accepting the more costly program.

In October, Duke Energy cut its $100 million distributed solar rooftop program in half after the plan was criticized by companies such has Wal-Mart as being “unfair.”

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